Do you know what's better than the rains? The unseasonal rains. Just three days back, there was absolutely a summery weather here. We were frustrated knowing that it was February, still the weather was so hot outside.

But since few days, sudden chills were felt. The temperature had fallen from 36 to 20. Even yesterday, the temperature was around 25, which was good. And today, in the morning, we could see clouds and suddenly the room was dark. My mom did say that it might rain today; and somehow she is always right about the weather forecast.




I peeped out and stared at one of the black windows of the building in front of me...and I could see thin, extremely thin raindrops falling down. I was delighted!

Anyway, for those of you who are totally unaware about the climate and seasons of Mumbai, let me just tell you--it is extremely hot from March to mid-June; towards 10th or 15th of June, the monsoon season starts; after that, from end of August to September, the climate is just a mixture of all the seasons (basically you cannot say which season is going on); and from October to December, there's the hot climate again. And then from mid-December to almost the month of February, there's the 'winter'.

So as you see, it is supposed to be winter or summer right now, but it is simply neither of the two...well, because it is raining!

There are ton of ways to celebrate rains, especially if they are totally unseasonal. Today I chose to pop some popcorn and sit by the window and eat the popcorn one by one.

Popcorn can be better if topped by caramel. Confused?

I purchased a packet of classic salty popcorn seeds/maize and made it in a cooker. After that, I spread liquid caramel on it and put the bowl in microwave oven. I kept it in for 20 seconds, and then had the delicious caramel and salty popcorn! It tasted so yummy, just like we get in theatres!


So how do you spend unseasonal rains?
xoxo

Hey there! Here's a second extremely quick idea for your lunchbox.




Remember how we made the Italian Khakra? Well, half of your lunch would consist of it. Easy? Yes, it is.



Firstly, place khakras on the bottom of your tiffin box. I took four khakras.



Later, pour mayonnaise and pizza/pasta sauce in a small container. You don't need to mix it as it would get mixed until you reach college.
Close the lid of the little container and keep it on the khakras.



I put three salty Monaco biscuits along with one healthy McVitie's biscuit.



For the sweet dish, I put a Monginis chocolate muffin next to the little container.



I also kept a small spoon to apply the mayonnaise and pizza/pasta sauce on the khakras, before having it in college.



This is how the lunchbox would look like after placing all the items.



For the beverage, I took hot chocolate powder and mixed it with water. I kept it in the refrigerator overnight.



 Finally, these are the items for your lunchbox.



After closing the lid of the box, this is how it would appear like.



And yes, do not forget filling water bottle too.



P.S. To make sure your hot chocolate drink is spill-proof, just cover it with a plastic and keep it erect in one of the small chains of your handbag while carrying it to college.




What did you carry to college today?
xoxo

Hey everyone! Another reason why I had gone crazy with the food haul was for a good full packed lunch in college. Though for us, it's like a mini-brunch, still, we need to stash our tummies with as much of home food as possible.

As my college starts at 7:00, it was impossible to pack lunchbox early morning. I always skipped taking it to college, especially since my TY had started. I tried to kill my hunger during the 8:40 break, either by not eating anything, or by having a samosa pav or wada pav from the canteen. But, deep down, I knew, both the ways were unhealthy.

I did not want to ask my mom to prepare lunchbox for me, as I think she has done enough for me, for all the twenty years (and the nine months before that!). I am old enough to pack myself a lunch. The bad thing here in India is that for us, the breakfast or the 'morning' food consists of all the big items like pohe, upma, sheera, saanjha, sabudana khichadi, paratha, etc.; I surely cannot cook any of these early morning before 6:30. So I dropped the idea of cooking them, and went for a way that would be healthy and readily available at home. Nowadays, I prepare the lunchbox at 10:00 in the night and refrigerate it until tomorrow morning. This way, the food remains fresh too.



 Seems yummy? Here's how I did it:



To start with, take two-three leaves of any type of leafy vegetable. As I did not have salad at home, I took cabbage leaves.

Apply butter. Recently, Amul has come up with this yummy flavoured butter. You guys need to try it! I applied the butter onto the leaves. If you don't have this butter, you can simply apply the regular one.



Spread sauce on the butter-coated cabbage leaves. I took Maggi's Hot & Sweet sauce because it is yummier than the regular ketchup.



Later, after keeping space for the side dishes, spread the leaves inside the lunchbox.



Later, chop veggies and add them on the leaves. I took cucumber, tomato, and carrot slices.



Then, pour liquid cheese-spread on the vegetables. (I don't know why there's a 'M' there. My sweetheart's name doesn't begin from 'M', so stop using your brains, already!) 



Sprinkle some chaat masala on the cheese and the vegetables. If you don't have the masala at home, you can sprinkle or put any type of taste-makers like pizza/pasta sauce, schezwan sauce, etc.



Now for the side dish, cut slices of a banana and put them in a small container. Pour chocolate sauce on the slices, and sprinkle half-cut almonds and cashew nuts. You don't need to shake this mixture, as until you carry it to college, the dessert would already be shaken and ready to eat.



 Then, close the lid of the little box. Towards the side of the little guy, I've kept three salty Monaco biscuits, and on top of that, the delicious chocolate muffin by Monginis.



This is how it looks from the top.




Keep them on the vegetable side of the box.

Check out the interview here: http://www.smartindianwomen.com/an-interview-with-blogger-rutuja-bhagwat-of-the-pretty-city-girl/

*

Hey guys! I am so, so, so happy to interview with the smartindianwomen.com. It was my first interview ever, and I'm sure there are lots more on their way.

The other day, I got a mail in my inbox from the site's marketing manager saying she would love to interview me for their website. Earlier, after reading an unknown name and overall subject name, I'd thought it to be just another random publicity mail or the mail from one of my subscribers. But then when I opened it, and read it, I sort of could not believe.
I read the mail again, and read it aloud to my parents and brother. I realized that I was just being asked for an interview! How amazing was that?

I opened their site to see if it was legitimate. And to my happiness, it was; the site--www.smartindianwomen.com--is a site highlighting achievements of women in various fields, varying from bloggers to entrepreneurs. I read an interview with a random blogger there to see how the interview would be like.




After verifying the legality or authenticity of the site, I replied back to the manager saying it would be a delight to give the interview. Soon, in few days, she sent me a questionnaire via Google Forms. I filled it, and attached a photo of mine.

I tried being as grammatically correct and as true as possible. And then, today, I got the manager's mail in the noon asking me to check the interview out. And there it was! Perfectly sitting amongst other woman bloggers, who, just like me, must have worked hard to achieve the position. I read it aloud to my mom, who was lying down next to me. I published it on my Facebook page as soon as it was possible, and was very, very proud of myself.

It was not possible without your support, guys! I love you all!
Sending you tons of Hugs and Kisses.

In yesterday's huge food haul, I'd also purchased bottles of Mayonnaise and Pizza/Pasta Sauce. These two guys can spice up any boring food to a lip-smacking delish.
I made a funny recipe and gave the name 'Italian Khakra'. The name can be explained as follows: The Pizza/Pasta Sauce that adds as topping is the Italian part of the recipe; and the base that we are using is nothing other than the Khakra. Hence, the name. Now, let's get started.




Ingredients and Tools Required:

1. Mayonnaise
2. Pizza/Pasta Sauce
3. A Packet of Khakras
4. Knife
5. 2 Spoons
6. Dish

Steps:

Remember I always stress out in my goals that I need to help mom in kitchen and other household chores? So for same reason, in order to help mom with cooking, I decided to buy some super yummy food items.




I had made a list long time ago, but as I was sick I couldn't go down to buy them. Finally today, though I'm not fine yet, I went down with my mom at 2:00 in the noon, to a Reliance Fresh store nearby. It's like a departmental store, but we only get food items and toiletries in it.

I had carried a huge white vegetable bag that said 'Microsoft'; yes, my dad had purchased a Surface Pro 3 from a Windows store, and had got this bag. It is pretty sturdy and it matched my outfit as well.

I had made a list, obviously on the long-list by Hallmark. Firstly, I randomly put the items in the trolley and then checked if all the items from the list were in my trolley. (Obviously, we purchased more than that, like sanitary napkins, detergent soap, etc.)

Here's a picture followed by a list of the items purchased:



 

 These are the pictures of what I purchased.



I have purchased all the items that are ticked. I also purchased some extra stuff.



Oh and this is the Microsoft bag I was talking about earlier.

xoxo

 My neighbour's little girl had her birthday party today. They invited me at around 1:30 in the noon saying the party was at 5:30. I had no new or unused gift to give her, so I had to go down anyhow to buy her a gift.
I got ready till 6. I wore my casual tee with makeup on. (MAKEUP? Yeah. I am trying to be a makeup applying girly girl.) I went down, and found that all the stationary and gift shops were closed. So I went to a grocery store and luckily found few notebooks and pencil sets.

I took a drawing book and a box of crayons. After going home, I had to wrap the gift. I did not have a brand new gift paper, but the polka-dotted one (that had white marks all over it). I also had to wrap a building friend's gift as she did not have a gift paper and the shops were closed as well.

While wrapping the gifts, I realized how much I sucked at wrapping. Maybe it was because I was being a total miser for using one sheet of gift paper to wrap both the gifts, or maybe because the paper was old and so it appeared like the wrapping was bad. But, I cannot deny the fact that I sucked at wrapping.




Are you a professional in wrapping gifts?
xoxo

Hey! So today after my parents went out for the grocery and vegetable shopping, I clicked this picture. These white pebbles are very easily found in India, in shops, of course. I just used a pink glass bowl and kept it on the table below my TV.
Later, I just put these little pebbles in the bowl. You can even add a little flower or sprinkle glitter on them. There are ton of options you can add to turn these pebbles into a sparkly delight.

This decorative idea is too common and if you didn't know about it, you should definitely try now. All you have to do is buy those white pebbles!

This is just a simple way to add some fun in your room.
Love ya!
xoxo

Hey there! Well again today I am out of topic. I have a list on my OneNote account where I've written blog post ideas. There are more than 200 ideas there. While browsing through the pages and sections of OneNote, I came across one of the pages under the section 'Movies'--Watched from Hard Disk'--and that's when I knew I had a post to write today!




It is not necessary that you will need a OneNote account, as you can write this down even in your notebook or your cellphone's notes.



This is my OneNote app on my PC. I've made a page that says 'Watched from Hard Disk'. I know these might not be the only movies I've watched and that I must have definitely forgotten to write more names here, but this is just a little trick.

Our hard disk is always filled with movies taken from friends, colleagues, and siblings. There are more than a 300 good movies and you don't have a track of them.
So I made this page and wrote all the movies' names after watching them. It is such an easy process.

You can make many such pages to keep a track on the movies you've watched with, say, the special one, on TV, from a hard disk, from so-and-so friend, etc. It is surprising when you look back on that list as you either know which is your favourite genre or you know how miscellaneous blend of movies you like to watch and have watched. 


So get a pen, paper, or your 'notes' app, and start writing.
xoxo

 Semester VI is half-way over and I decided so late to show the notes of Semester V here. It is really great to write on tab after so many days. Anyway, here's a quick glance on my Sem V notes:



These are all the notes of Sem V. I've put an elastic band around the notes.



Here are the mini notes. I've used index cards to write quick points of IRJ subject.



Notes 1



College Notes



This set of notes also has question papers of prelim, internals, and finals.



 I used this book for writing self-notes.



Yet another set of notes.



These were the printed notes mailed by sir.



I've used my cute binder clip to bind all the printed notes.



These were some of the books from last to last semester I used to write semester V notes in.



In my set of notes, I've also kept assignments and write-ups that were written in the whole semester.
 


These are another subject's notes.



There are question banks in this set too.



And finally, I've kept all the notes in a plastic bag and written SEM V on it.



How does your set of notes look like?
xoxo